background: been flying maybe 4 years, have my 107, done a ton of commercial stuff ? ag, real estate, some infrastructure work. pretty comfortable pilot, got a Mavic 3 Cine and access to an Inspire 2 through a friend when jobs need it. been wanting to break into film and video production work for a while but honestly have no idea how that world even operates or who makes the hiring decisions.

like do productions hire individual pilots directly or do they go through a company? do you need to be in a union? I've heard SAG-AFTRA stuff mentioned but I dont fully understand how that applies to drone operators specifically. and the bigger question is how do people actually get their foot in the door ? do you just cold call production companies, is there some industry database or something, do you need a specific reel format they're looking for.

any of this would be helpful, even just pointing me in a direction. feel like this is one of those industries where who you know matters way more than what your skills are which is a little frustrating when you're on the outside of it.

the "who you know" thing is unfortunately pretty accurate but its not impossible to work your way in. what worked for me was starting with local independent productions ? student films, low budget music videos, local commercials ? basically anything where the budget was tight and they couldnt afford a big aerial company. you're not making great money on those but you're building relationships with directors and DPs who eventually move up and remember who did good work for them when they were broke. one DP I met on a $3000 music video gig is now doing feature docs and has called me in twice in the last year.

on the union question, for drone operators specifically it's complicated and honestly varies by production. some bigger productions will want you to work under a specific IATSE local, others dont care as long as you're insured and certified. I'd look into IATSE Local 600 (thats the camera guild) because some drone ops work under that jurisdiction but it really depends on the production and the state you're in. worth researching your specific region.

I dont have film experience but I did pick up a job through ProductionHUB a while back, its a site where productions post crew calls and you can list yourself as available. not sure how active it is for drone work specifically but its worth having a profile there. also honestly Instagram has been underrated for this ? I've had two people reach out to me from there just from posting my footage regularly with location tags. took a while but it works if you're consistent.